Todd Hazelwood at QR earlier this year. Image: Richard Gresham / Speedcafe
The star was at the Ipswich venue on Wednesday helping local racers the Trappett brothers prepare for this weekend’s gloriously titled ‘World Excel Championship’ at the venue.
Hazelwood lost control of the pint-sized Hyundai at the high-speed Turn 1, resulting in the car digging into the gravel trap and rolling onto its side.
He was assessed by medical staff at the circuit and cleared of any injury, although admits to more than a bit of embarrassment.
“I hit the bump at Turn 1, got a little bit crossed up, dropped a wheel in the dirt and over she went,” Hazelwood recounted to Speedcafe.
“It was probably the most bizarre incident I’ve ever had in a race car.
“It was a very awkward, slow roll which looked quite spectacular but fortunately there was not too much damage.
“It was so slow it didn’t even puncture the front windscreen, which I’m told is rare in an Excel. They’re easy to roll, hard not to puncture the front windscreen!
“Looking back, I was far from impressed with myself. It was a bit of a red-faced moment.”
Hazelwood said the car has already been repaired ahead of the weekend, with a new door and associated glass fitted, and a bit of panel beating required to the rear quarter.
The hidden rule change that failed to halt Hazelwood
Gold Coast-based Hazelwood, who turned 30 today, is a regular driver coach as part of The Complete Race Driver business run by engineer Wes McDougall.
“I’ve been doing it for a long time and it’s the first time I’ve been bitten,” Hazelwood said.
“It’s safe to say I won’t be sending a bill for my Wednesday of coaching at the racetrack!”
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Hazelwood was on double duties during the day and rebounded from the incident by jumping into Tanuki Racing’s Nissan Silvia S13 Time Attack weapon.
Having won World Time Attack at Sydney Motorsport Park in the car last month, Hazelwood shook off the rollover and was straight down to business.
“I did two laps in the Tanuki rocket and managed to unofficially break the lap record at Queensland Raceway on my first flying lap,” he said.
“It was good to brush off the moment in the Excel, jump in something seriously fast and forget about what had just happened.”
Hazelwood reports he clocked a 1:02.294s in the machine – some 30 seconds faster than a competitive time in an Excel.
Todd Hazelwood at speed aboard the Time Attack Silvia. Image: Supplied
The team and driver are focused on a bold target at the 3.1km, six-turn Ipswich venue.
“We’ve got a new project that Tanuki Racing are working on called Project 60. We want to do a sub-60 second lap at Queensland Raceway,” he added.
“I’m pretty confident the car will do it, we just need to work on a few more things. Once we get the cooling sorted, I think we should be able to achieve it.”
Hazelwood’s wild Wednesday at QR followed victory in the AirTouch 500 at The Bend earlier this month as co-driver to Brodie Kostecki at Dick Johnson Racing.
The pair will head to the Bathurst 1000 looking to achieve back-to-back wins with different teams, having triumphed at Mount Panorama last year with Erebus Motorsport.